Willie Nelson’s newest album, “The Family Ol’ Willie” out this week, includes the offspring of two of Nelson’s older sisters.
“My mother was always telling the girls they had to go be in the studio at least once so they could be on there when their brother did,” Nelson, 83, said of his sister, Bobbie, who he grew up alongside until her death in 1989.
Nelson continues to shine a light on some of his siblings even after his own daughter Willie Nelson & Family released a gospel record last year, called “Something Amazing Happened” — which also includes his daughters Bobbie, Lily and Micah.
“My sisters had their run and they had to stop when they turned 40,” Nelson said. “So I asked them, ‘How do you want to spend the next 30 years? Do you want to stay in town and get old or do you want to be out here on the road touring?’”
Willie Nelson & Family’s “Something Amazing Happened” was named by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the “Best Albums of 2018.”
“You have to have kids to stay on the road. The better kids, I guess, you can entertain them,” Nelson added with a laugh.
Nelson’s third album features his two other sons and three of his grandchildren.
On the 13-track album, Willie Nelson & Family’s 11-year-old son Colt sings the twangy harmony on five of the songs and includes old-timey vocal breaks right out of the radio broadcast of “The Ed Sullivan Show.”
“It’s a joy and a relief to have a son singing harmony,” Nelson said. “It’s really important when you’re in the studio to use somebody that can sing harmony and they need to know what the tune is and how to sing harmony.”
Nelson’s youngest son, Micah Nelson, 22, “sings like his dad,” Willie Nelson said. “He sings our version of ‘Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain.’”
Willie Nelson & Family’s “The Family Ol’ Willie” features a tribute to Nelson’s late sister Bobbie, who died in 1989 after battling brain cancer.
Nelson also recently released a new song called “Pride and Joy,” where he croons:
“I’ll give you pleasure, I’ll give you something to think about/
Out here in the middle of the green hills
My Texas pride and joy’s how I define ya, man/
Hey I go by others in town, I’m a God.”
Willie Nelson and Family’s “The Family Ol’ Willie” is out on Feb. 1.
Todd Starnes is a Fox News Radio host and author. Click here for more of his columns.